Archive for May, 2017

Windows 10 doesn’t update date and time automatically? Windows 10 set time zone automatically not working? By default, Windows 10 determines your location based on your IP address, and this location will be used to set your time zone. But, if Windows has problem detecting your IP address accurately, it may set a wrong time zone and you have to turn off the “Set Time Zone Automatically” feature. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple ways to enable or disable “Set Time (Zone) Automatically” in Windows 10.

Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters

In the right pane you can see a string value named Type. If you want Windows 10 to set time automatically, set its value data to NTP. To disable automatic time synchronization, change its value to NoSync.

In order to enable or disable “Set Time Zone Automatically” in Windows 10, navigate to the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tzautoupdate

Double-click the 32-bit DWORD “Start” in the right pane. Set its value data to 3 if you want to make Windows 10 set time zone automatically. If you want to disable “Set Time Zone Automatically” in Windows 10, just set the value to 4.

Reboot your computer for the registry changes to take effect.

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Not getting any alert (sound or notification banner) about receiving new email? You can configure Windows 10 Mail app to show a banner notification in the Notification & Action Center, and play a sound whenever a new email message arrives. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to turn on or off notification banner & sound for Windows 10 built-in Mail app.

How to Turn On / Off Notification Banner & Sound for Windows 10 Mail App

First, make sure app notifications are enabled in Windows 10. To do this, press the Windows logo key + I shortcut to open the Settings app, and then click System.

Select the Notifications & actions tab in the left side. Scroll down to the Notification section and turn on “Get notifications from apps and other senders“.

Now, open the built-in Mail app. Click the Settings icon at the bottom of the left-hand navigation panel, and then select Notifications from the pop-up menu.

Check the box labeled “Show a notification banner” to enable new mail notification banner in the lower-right corner of the screen. If you wish to hear a sound when a new email is received, check “Play a sound” option.

If you don’t want to get any sound or banner notifications for every mail message you receive, just turn off the “Show notifications in the action center” option. You can apply the same notification settings for all your email accounts in the Mail app.

How to disable a certain global shortcut key that conflicts with an application-specific hotkey? Sometimes or even frequently though, you may activate a hotkey accidentally? In this tutorial we’ll show you a simple way to disable specific Windows key shortcut in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

How to Disable Specific Windows Key Shortcut in Windows?

Press the Windows logo key + R combination to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Right-click on the Advanced key in the left pane, and then select New -> String Value from the context menu.

Name it DisabledHotkeys, and set its value data to the characters of hotkeys you want to disable.

For example, set it to S. This will disable Win + S, Win + Shift + S, and other shortcuts that using Windows key and the disabled characters you specified.
Set it to SA to disable both Win + S and Win + A hotkeys.
And so on.

Reboot your computer and the hotkeys you specified will become disabled. If you want to restore the original hotkeys to work, just delete the DisabledHotkeys value and you’re done.

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How to stop Windows 10 from automatically starting apps in the background? Windows 10 comes with many built-in apps that run in the background by default. Those apps can automatically update live tiles , send notification and stay up-to-date, even if you never use them. This will drain some battery power and consume system resources. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to prevent Windows 10 apps from running in the background.

Select Background apps on the left side. On the right pane, you can simply flip the switch to off next to the apps you no longer want running in the background, or prevent all apps from running in the background by switching off “Let apps run in the background“.

The changes take effect immediately. Using this method you can also prevent third-party apps from running in the background.

If you change your mind then you can turn on certain background apps any time you want. For example, if you start to use the Mail app to send/receive mails, you need to allow the Mail app to run in the background. Otherwise you won’t get notification of new mails.

Method 2: Disable Background Apps in Windows 10 Using Registry Editor

Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type regedit and press Enter.

When the Registry Editor appears, navigate to the following key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications

Right-click on the BackgroundAccessApplications key in the left pane, and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it GlobalUserDisabled and set its value to 1. (1: Turn off all background apps, 0: Turn on background apps)

Close Registry Editor. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

If you want to use Registry Editor to turn off a certain background app only, just set GlobalUserDisabled to 0 and then expand the BackgroundAccessApplications key in the left side of Registry Editor. Locate the subkey for the app that you disallow to run in the background, create two new DWORD values named “Disabled” and “DisalbedByUser” and set the values to 1.

That’s it. Now you have disabled background apps in Windows 10.

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Could I log in to Windows without a password? How can I disable password at login screen? Looking for a way to turn off Windows password because you’ve forgotten it? In this tutorial we’ll show you 3 different ways to turn off Windows 10 / 8 / 7 password.

Right-click on My Computer shortcut on your desktop. If you’re running Windows 10, right-click This PC shortcut in the left navigation pane of File Explorer. Next choose Manage from the context menu.

When the Computer Management window appears, navigate to Local Users and Groups -> Users. Right-click your local account and select Set Password. When get the warning prompt, click on Proceed to continue.

Type the new password and confirm. Click OK to remove the existing password for your Windows account.

Option 2: Turn Off Windows Password by Enabling Automatic Logon

This method allows you to disable Windows login screen without changing or deleting your password. After enabling automatic logon, Windows will automatically sign into your account every time you turn on or restart your computer. Here’s how:

Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type netplwiz and press Enter.

Uncheck the box “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer“, and then select your Windows account from the list. Click OK.

Type your current password twice and click OK.

From now on, Windows will automatically log into your selected account with the password you provided.

Option 3: Turn Off Windows Password When You’re Locked Out of Computer

If you have physical access to a machine then there is nothing to prevent you from gaining administrative access. When you forgot your Windows administrator password or need to access a locked or disabled account, you can take use of PCUnlocker to log back in to your computer without reinstalling Windows.

To get started, you need to prepare a PCUnlocker Live CD (or USB) on another PC you have access to. Download the ISO image of PCUnlocker and burn it to a blank CD (or USB thumb drive) using ISO2Disc.

Boot your locked computer from PCUnlocker Live CD (or USB). Once you’re at the PCUnlocker screen, select one of your local accounts and click on Reset Password button.

When the Change Password dialog box opens, just leave the password field empty and click OK. This will turn off Windows password completely.

Reboot your computer and you can then sign into Windows account without being prompted for a password.

Control Panel disappeared from Windows 10’s Win+X menu? In recent release of Windows 10 Creators Update (build 1703), the Control Panel shortcut in the Win+X menu was replaced with the Settings app. Luckily there is a simple way to restore the missing Control Panel shortcut to Win+X menu in Windows 10.

How to Restore Control Panel Missing from Win+X Menu in Windows 10?

Press the Windows logo key + R to open the Run command box. Copy & paste the following path and press Enter.%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\Group2

This will open the Group2 folder in File Explorer, which contains a “Control Panel” item, but this appears in the Win+X menu as “Settings“. In order to restore Control Panel back to Win+X menu, you have to rename the existing “Control Panel” item.

Download the old style Control Panel shortcut from this link: Win10-Control-Panel. After the file downloads, right-click on it and select Extract All.

Note: If you want to use the Control Panel shortcut created by yourself, you have to use the hashlnk program to “patch” the shortcut. Otherwise, your shortcut will not appear on the Win+X menu.

Copy the extracting file and then paste it into the Group2 folder.

Restart your computer and Control Panel will appear again in the Win+X menu!

You might notice that the Settings option is still there even if we’ve renamed it. If you want to remove “Settings” from Win+X menu, just delete the original “Control Panel” item from the Group2 folder.

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By default, moving your mouse or pressing the keyboard will wake up your computer from sleep / hibernation mode. But, the slightest movement of the mouse or even a cat walking on the keyboard can cause Windows to wake up. That could be really annoying. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to stop mouse or keyboard from waking computer in Windows 10.

How to Stop Mouse / Keyboard from Waking Computer in Windows 10?

Open the Control Panel in Large icons view, and then click on Mouse. If you want to prevent keyboard from waking computer, click on Keyboard instead.

In the Mouse (or Keyboard) Properties window, switch to the Hardware tab. Select the mouse you want to control from the list and then click on Properties.

Under the General tab, click the Change settings button.

Select the Power Management tab, and uncheck the box next to Allow this device to wake the computer. Click OK.

That’s it. Now neither your mouse or keyboard will wake your Windows 10 system from sleep mode. You’ll need to press the computer’s Power button to wake it.